China set to take control of strategic Pakistan port

AP, KARACHI, Pakistan

Sun, Feb 03, 2013 - Page 5

China is poised to take over operational control of a strategic deep-water Pakistani seaport that could serve as a vital economic hub for Beijing and perhaps a key military outpost, officials said.

The construction of the port, in the former fishing village of Gwadar in troubled Baluchistan Province, was largely funded by China at a cost of about US$200 million. It has been a commercial failure since it opened in 2007, because Pakistan never completed the road network to link the port to the rest of the country.

Chinese control of the port would give it a foothold in one of the world’s most strategic areas and could unsettle officials in Washington, who have been concerned about Beijing’s expanding regional influence.

The port occupies a strategic location between South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It lies near the Strait of Hormuz, gateway for about 20 percent of the world’s oil.

China’s interest is driven by concerns about energy security as it seeks to fuel its booming economy. It wants a place to anchor pipelines to secure oil and gas supplies from the Gulf. Beijing also believes that helping develop Pakistan will boost economic activity in its far western province of Xinjiang and dampen a simmering, low-intensity rebellion there.

Some experts view Gwadar as the westernmost link in the “string of pearls,” a line of ports from China to the Gulf that could facilitate expansion of the Chinese navy in the Indian Ocean.

That has sparked concern in both the US and India.

Pakistan’s Cabinet agreed on Wednesday to a proposal for a company owned by the Chinese government, China Overseas Port Holdings Limited, to purchase control of the port from Singapore’s PSA International Pte Ltd (PSA), which won a bid in 2007 to operate the port for 40 years.

Pakistan views China as one of its most important allies and a counterweight to the US, which has given Islamabad billions of US dollars in aid but is often viewed as a fickle taskmaster.

China is expected to pay US$35 million for control of the port to PSA and two other groups that own an interest, said Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, one of the other shareholders.

A senior Pakistani official said that Beijing has agreed to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to finish a 900km road that would link the port with Pakistan’s north-south Indus Highway, facilitating overland transport from Gwadar to China.

It will still be a tough drive, passing along the Karakorum Highway that winds through the rugged mountains of northern Pakistan and then into China’s Xinjiang Province via a border crossing point at an elevation of 4,693m. The path is often blocked by snow in winter.

Even so, the route will cut the overland distance from China’s western provinces to the sea in half, from about 4,000km to China’s east coast, to just 2,000km south to Gwadar.